


Hear Me Now (JoJo)

by politics_and_prose



Series: This is my family; I found it, all on my own [2]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Catholicism, Religion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 00:43:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17012286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/politics_and_prose/pseuds/politics_and_prose
Summary: In the aftermath of the ambush by the thugs and Bulls, JoJo returns to the first home he ever had.





	Hear Me Now (JoJo)

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to go ahead and write a series of one shots focusing on some of the minor newsies. 
> 
> I'm not sure if this is something that needs to be listed as a warning, but there is a Catholic prayer (found on the internet, as I'm not Catholic or religious at all) and a Bible verse quoted in the text of the story. 
> 
> Please feel free to request a newsie you'd like me to write about. :)
> 
> **EDIT - due to suggestions from a writer who I respect and adore (looking at you, tuppenny), I've changed the bible verse and the prayer at the end, plus a tiny bit of editing around the new verse. **

“Jorgelino,” Sister Mary Elizabeth said fondly as he removed his cap and stepped into the Narthex of All Saints, head bowed. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. You’ve grown." 

JoJo gave her a small smile and a nod, head still turned away. “Yes, Sister.”

“Jorgelino, look at me.” When he reluctantly lifted his head, she gasped and moved her hands to his cheek. “Goodness! What’s happened to you, child? Come, come.”

JoJo didn’t put up any resistance as she gripped his elbow and led him around to an area in the back. She wet a rag and he sat silently in an uncomfortable wooden chair to wait for her.

He honestly wasn’t sure what led him back there after the attack at the strike. He’d run away from the church as soon as he knew he had a place to stay and hadn’t looked back since. He avoided churches the best he could. The only time he saw nuns was when they provided food or coffee or water before a long day, and even then he kept his eyes averted.

He always made sure to thank them though.

“Now, Jorgelino, tell me what happened,” Sister Mary Elizabeth said softly as she ran the damp cloth over the cuts on his face.

Part of him wanted to tell her he’d rather confess to a Father and be on his way. The other part, however, wanted to take the comfort she was offering to him and return her kindness with the truth.

“The newsboys are on strike. Well, at least the ones I work with.” She didn’t comment, instead just continuing with cleaning his wounds and waiting for his explanation to resume. “We asked other fellas to join but since Brooklyn didn’t, no one else did. Things were goin’ okay at first an’ then …”

And then chaos. Papers flying everywhere, Weasel and his thugs, hired scabs, all bigger and stronger and older than a group of boys who just wanted to survive. A kick to his gut, a punch in the face. Hands on his arms, shoving him against the distribution stand. The same hands on his throat, lifting him onto the stacks of papers and squeezing … squeezing … squeezing …

“And then?” 

His eyes refocused on Sister Mary Elizabeth. “And then some of the men who work for the paper and some other fellas … we … I don’t really know who started it, coulda been us, but a fight broke out. There was yellin’ and screamin’ and fightin’.” He lifted a hand and pointed to his face. “As I’m sure you can tell.”

“What happened next, Jorgelino?” she asked softly, dipping the rag into the water and wringing it out before bringing it to his hairline, probably to wash away more blood.

“Then the cops showed up. We thought it was just the regular cops but it wasn’t. It was the Bulls.”

_“It’s about time yas showed up! They’re slaughtering us!”_

JoJo winced, his stomach turning as he heard in his mind the sound of the Bull’s stick and fist hitting Romeo across the jaw. He went down like dead weight and JoJo had never been so scared for one of his friends before then. In that moment, he’d worried that Romeo had been killed.

“The Bulls?” the Sister asked curiously as she deposited the cloth back into the water and turned to face him fully. “Who are they?”

“Bad cops,” he said, not really knowing any better way to describe the cops who beat kids and didn’t seem to feel bad about it.

He’d had a strict upbringing in this very church, whacked with a ruler if he did something wrong, punished with chores and removal of rewards, but he hadn’t been prepared for the world outside these walls when he left. He’d never worried about being treated poorly before, not by adults. But the Bulls treated the street kids of New York as if they were drunks who gambled their lives away instead of teenagers and children who had no other options.

Sister Mary Elizabeth didn’t say anything and the silence crushed JoJo with its invisible weight. He worried, suddenly, that she was going to send a messenger to get the Bulls and drag him away. He admitted to fighting, didn’t he? And that was a sin. He didn’t want to go to the Refuge like the boys who’d gotten caught in the fight.

He had questions, though, before she sent him away and out of the once-stifling and now-comforting feeling of being inside a church. 

“Sister, d’you think what happened was God’s way of telling us we shouldn’t be fighting back?”

The nun sat back and folded her hands in her lap, a thoughtful expression on her face. She still hadn’t said anything and it was making JoJo itch to get up and run. His knee started bouncing but a stern look from Sister Mary Elizabeth halted him mid-movement. A mumbled sorry was the only sound in the room once more.

Finally, the older woman spoke. “John 1:5. _The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it._ ”

It was JoJo’s turn to be quiet. His mind rolled the Sister’s quote over and over, letting it wash over him in a way he hadn’t let any words from the Bible do in a long time. He was pretty sure he knew what she was saying even if she didn’t say it in a way he could easily understand.

If the newsboys thought it was right to fight back, they should and then, once the did, they would get a sign as to whether or not they did the right thing. JoJo just worried that the Bulls showing up was not the darkness she spoke of.

“I –“ He paused before clearing his throat. “D’you think the Bulls were the darkness?” he asked. “B’cause, well, raising the price was a hardship too. Like a darkness”

“I think,” the nun said softly, “that you already know the answer to that. I think you know the difference between raising the price of your newspapers and what happened with the police.”

His hand unconsciously moved to rub at his sore throat. Yes, the price of the papers going up was bad, but the all out assault on a bunch of kids was much worse. His mind replayed the verse Sister Mary Elizabeth quoted to him once, twice, before he nodded and met her eyes. “The test is how we react after we were attacked,” he said, his voice confident. “The test is whether we get back up or if we give up.”

Sister Mary Elizabeth smiled and stood. “I’ve got to get back to my chores and you should get back to your friends.”

JoJo nodded and stood as well. “Thank you, Sister. For everything.”

She nodded and turned to exit out of a different door from the one they’d entered through. Pausing with her hand on the handle, she looked over her shoulder. “Jorgelino, speak with God before you go.”

Without another word, she exited and left him alone.

JoJo stood there for a moment before heading out the way he came. He entered the Nave and slowly walked over to the front row of pews. His eyes searched out the crucifix and lingered for a moment before he folded his hands and bowed his head. It had been so long since he’d prayed that it took a minute before the words came back to him.

“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.”

He fell silent again, his eyes squeezed shut, speaking to God with his thoughts rather than his words. After a few moments, he stood, crossed himself, and left the church to go back to his friends. Hopefully Romeo was awake and they were planning their next move. Now more than ever, JoJo was certain they were doing the right thing.

With renewed confidence, JoJo returned his head to his head, lifted his chin and set course for the lodging house. 


End file.
